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Urban Agriculture
History Urban Agriculture is not a new idea and has been used as far back as the days of Machu Picchu in Peru. The inhabitants of the Incan city used terraces to collect and reuse the scarce amounts of water in the city and strategically placed the plants to collect the maximum amoutt of sunlight and increase the growing season. Urbanized agriculture has also been used more recently during times of great poverty and food scarcity within cities. In the early 19th century german farmers who had moved into the cities developed small agricultural plots to battle poor living conditions and the inability to get food within the city. It was also seen in North America in the 1890's in cities such as Detroit where residents were encouraged to use vacant lots to grow vegetables in order to feed themselves and the rest of the city. Most recently, cities such as New York have developed large urban agriculture projects including the largest privately owned and operated rooftop farming project in the world. With improving technology and awareness of the need for more sustainable cities, the evolution of urban agriculture has the potention to redefine how we use our cities. Impacts Economic Urban Agriculture has been shown to increase the economy in some cites through the production and marketing of locally grown consumable products. The Eat Local Movement is one that several people are becoming aware of and some are actively seeking out locally sourced products. Several restaurants use this idea as promotional material as well as contributing back to the local economy by buying as many locally grown and sourced products as possible. Urban agriculture also leads to the creation of jobs through the development, harvesting and selling of the produce. Local workers are needed especially as farms grown in size and production rate. We can also see a noticiblee increase in the affordability of the food produced. THis allows for a decrease in the poverty levels of a city and allows people of all economic classes to have access to healthy and sustainable food sources. Social Urban gardens are seen as spaces of retreat to some people within large urban areas. They can lead to an increase in community health and connectivity as wells as developing neighborhood pride. Areas with significant urban agriculture have shown to have a reduction in crime and suicide rates. It is also noted that communities with Urban Agriculture are more active and the residents tend to live healthy lifestyles. This may be due to the access to better foods as well as a greated feeling of community satisfaction and want to be outside within the community. Carbon Footprint Urban agriculture areas can act as carbon sinks. The plants being grown intake carbon dioxide (CO2) and release oxygen (O2). In urban areas, the reduction of carbon dioxide that is produced from vehicle emmisions and heating of homes is hugely important in creating a sustainable human environment. The carbon footprint of an Urban Agriculture project can be reduced even further by selecting plants which do not need to be planted yearly and by reusing plants as fertilizers for future gardens (composting). Soil Decontamination Urban agriculture is one method used to clean vacant lots that contain contaminated soils due to illegal dumping and/or contaminated water leaching. The process is called phytoremediation and involves the plants degrading or absorbing contaminants in order to remove them from the soils. While it may take a few years to produce edible vegetables from a contamitated site, this process is a safe, easy and more effective was to clean contamination then some traditional methods. Implementation Urban agriculture can be implemented in several different ways. The most basic form that is used is the community farm or community garden in which a community has a designated area where residents can come and plant their produce and everything is grown together. Most projects fo this nature encourage users to share produce amongst the other growers and the community. Community gardens can be any size and are starting to be found in more and more locations. Larger scale projects are those in which enough produce is grown that it can be sold. Many of these projects are privately owned and operated. Large projects of this nature tend to rely on local Farmer's Markets to sell their goods as they are already attracting the type of consumre who is looking for locally sourced goods. Many farmers markets rely on solely local products to stay in operation and many urban agriculture projects help in supporting these markets. Interesting Urban Agriculture Projects Rooftop Hydroponic Gardens-Vancouver, BC A project originally started by Alterrus Systems and recently acquired by Affinor Growers uses an automated hydroponic process to grow several species of leafy greens and herbs. The project is located on the top floor of a city owned parkade in Vancouver and operates under the approval of Vancouver city council. Todmorden Village, Yorkshire, United Kingdom The residents of Todmorden Village in the UK have started a "guerrilla gardening" movement that has seen several small vegetable gardens pop up in bizarre locations all throughout the town without any legal permissions from the town. Gardens can be found all over town at locations such as the college, the train station, and even the police station. Rosario, Argentina Rosario is one of the first cities in the world to fully incorporate urban agriculture into the urban planning processes of the city.